Elmina Town

Elmina Town

Elmina is a town on the south coast of Ghana in the Central Region, on an Atlantic Bay, 12 kilometers west of Cape Coast. Elmina was the first European to settle in West Africa. The city was called Anomansah because of its location on the peninsula between the Benya lagoon and the sea before the arrival of the Portuguese. The town developed surrounding the São Jorge da Mina Castle, which was built by the Portuguese Diogo de Azambuja on the site of a town or village called Amankwakurom or Amankwa in 1482. It was the headquarters of Portugal in West Africa for the trade and extraction of the wealth of Africa. The initial Portuguese focus was on gold, with 8,000 ounces shipped to Lisbon between 1487 and 1489, 22,500 ounces between 1494 and 1496, and 26,000 ounces by the beginning of the 16th century. Later, tens of thousands of slaves passed through the trading post of Elmina. As early as 1479, the Portuguese were trafficking slaves as far away as Benin, who made up 10 percent of Elmina's trading and were used to cultivate the land. Elmina's location made it an important place to resupply ships heading south to the Cape of Good Hope as they headed to India. The town was captured by the Dutch West India Company in 1637, and in the centuries that followed, it was used primarily as a center for the slave trade. The city was attacked by the British in 1782, but it stayed in the Dutch possession until 1872, when the entire Dutch Gold Coast area was sold to the British. The King of Ashanti, opposed the sale and started the Third Anglo-Ashanti War of 1873-1874. Elmina is also the location of Fort Coenraadsburg on St. Jago hill, which was built in 1555 by the Portuguese.